Finding Fun #3

…in the Kitchen. I dedicate this post to Carolyn, who came up with this idea, and FosterMummy for her recipes. Carolyn’s blog is entitled Mess, Muddle, and Fun and that is definitely what I found this week [but actually, more mess and muddle than fun, to be truthful]

Much of my weekend was spent trying to catch up on rest. I had bad backache [definite sign of over-tiredness] and I dropped a glass bottle and a Pyrex bowl and they smashed to smithereens on the kitchen floor. On Monday I forgot to take the evening meal out of the freezer to defrost, so had to come up with an alternative. I’d read Foster Mummy’s post about her Frugal Dinner Party, and decided to use some of her recipes [flatbread, falafels and hummus] as I had the ingredients to hand. And I thought I’d make a salad to go alongside.

For ages Liz has encouraged me to make my own hummus. As I bemoaned my lack of tahini, she took me off to Oli’s the 24 hour Turkish Deli round the corner from her flat and we bought some.

It has been in the fridge for some months. The instructions say “Stir well before use” and when I opened it, the contents had clearly separated into thick goop below, and oil above. I stirred gently with a meat skewer. Then I became impatient.  OK, I became more impatient than I usually am. I got out the food mixer, put in one of the beaters, and stirred on low speed. The tahini began to move in the tub. I switched to Speed 2. And then…oh fatal error…to Speed 3.

At this point, everything blended smoothly, and flung itself out of the tub. Over the cereal jar, the mixer, the tahini tub, the tea tray, the worktop, my top…

I went, dripping, out to the garage, to ask Bob to help me remove my jumper without getting tahini in my hair. Definitely mess and muddle. But I must report that

• the recipes worked very well [once I had cleaned up the kitchen and got everything prepared] Thanks FM
• Vanish removes tahini oil stains from acrylic knitwear
• tahini should probably be stirred by hand